Dark Victory

Never a love so exquisite! She smiled at the cost, and bravely paid the reckoning when her heart’s Happy dancing was ended!

Cancer is a disease that seems to be reserved for courageous screen heroines in particular, but this movie is a fine example of how Hollywood once expertly turned predictability into great entertainment. It’s interesting to see how unrealistically the disease is portrayed – damned if a dying lady should be forced to face death without decent makeup! Bette Davis is very good as the 23-year-old socialite whose carefree life is shattered by a brain tumour. This simple soaper cleverly guides the victim and the audience through feelings of fear, joy of life and later on irrevocable despair. Ronald Reagan is fun in an early part.

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Remember This?

“I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall, they have the right to give it a try - but there's no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention - you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing.”

Jesse Eisenberg, as Mark Zuckerberg, to a lawyer (The Social Network, 2010)